In the opening ceremony, when Rafer Johnson took the Olympic flame on the long ascent to the lofty cauldron, where it burned for 16 days, he also uplifted the tens of thousands in the L.A. Memorial Coliseum

Before he became the premier postseason performer of his generation, the Patriots icon was a middling college quarterback who invited skepticism, even scorn, from fans and his coaches. That was all—and that was everything